Dedicated to the 'art, architecture and gardens of medieval Europe', I was first on a mission to visit The Met Cloisters some 20 years ago when my fascination with both medieval gardens and willow structures was at its peak.  Despite the early drought years at Glenmore, I was still determined then to create a pretty, lush, rather wild and romantic garden, interspersed with willow panels and wigwam structures, with edible, medicinal and scented plants. 

In fact.....for awhile, that was the inspiration behind what is now the Kitchen Garden (during its in-between phase when I realised that being a working mother was not going to allow me to grow veg on the scale I'd hoped and the Kitchen Garden retreated to a small patch directly outside the kitchen door!).  Inspired by these fantasies, each 'square' to either side of the just-getting-established apple arch was planted with a central quince tree, surrounded by all manner of herbs from Clarey sage to borage and comfrey.....and glorious ancient spring flowering roses, like the Damasks Isphahan and Trigintipetala, as well as  various Moss varieties. For a few years it was heaven, though always the last area I got around to weeding and mulching (though to this day I plant the seed each year that I collected from the first Purple Podded Dutch peas that I encouraged to trail over a twig panel fence). Over the years it also dawned (gosh I'm a bit slow sometimes!), that in reality this style of garden was defeating me in our climate - I became wiser (needless to say older)....and it was during these years that the rest of the garden evolved (by necessity and experience) into what it is today.....it may not be my original vision, but perhaps it is more 'original' because of it.

Of course I still go nutty about the gardens that inspired me then - I always will, and the gardens at The Met Cloisters are typical of my old favourites. And not just because of their style, but because of the history of the design that underpins them:  "In a monastery, a cloister is a square or rectangular open-air courtyard surrounded by covered passageways. The yard enclosed within these arcades is known as a garth.  In a medieval monastic complex, the garth was often situated to the south side of the church, providing a sunny, sheltered place where the monks or nuns could enjoy nature without leaving the monastery".  The plan of the Cuxa Cloister (above) "is typically medieval. A fountain is set at the centre of the crossed paths that divide the garden into quadrants, each with a grass plot and a pollarded crab apple tree.  The medieval pleasure garden, with its borders of plants chosen for beauty and fragrance, is the ancestor of our own ornamental gardens". (abbreviated from the Met Gardens' description).

The Trie Cloister Garden (above) evokes an idealised version of a flowering meadow...."the joy the medieval world felt upon the return of spring, expressed in their verdant, millefleurs tapestries, allegorical poems and paintings.....a place of unbridled and untamed nature". While in contrast, "the medieval apothecary and vegetable gardens were orderly, with pleasing symmetry and balance", as seen in The Bonnefont Cloister Herb Garden, "with plants grouped and labelled according to their medieval use, whether in cooking, medicine, art, industry, housekeeping or magic.  Many herbs, trees and flowers were used symbolically as well as practically".

Er sorry....getting a bit carried away!  This is why I should not start these things.....oh how I would love to while away the day just reading.....these descriptions carry me off into another realm.....

Anyway, aside from all the symbolism and fragrance, fruit, herbs and flowers......there are plant supports of every description to be found in this exquisite collection of small gardens. As this visit was unplanned and very quick, I didn't take very many photos (I know I have gazillions in a hefty album from last time - pre-digital!).  But seeing the plethora of panels and hurdles, obelisks and wigwams of every description....well....I couldn't help but slip in this post with Penny's upcoming Willow Workshop on the agenda!

Maybe, just maybe....I can figure out a way of resurrecting some of my old ideas......!!!

I know it's been such an age since posting here on the blog.  For those who were regular followers, I do apologise.  A combination of the book, a gazillion more events at Glenmore House, and perhaps the arrival of Instagram (which is a much quicker way to divulge a snapshot of what's happening on any given day) can all be blamed; but I'm going to try to get back to writing the odd blog post....as time allows, just for those of you who really do want a wee bit more of a story. 

And right now, at the end of a gallivanting session, seems an ideal place to start! After all, it isn't every day that one has the opportunity to launch a book in London....which was the good reason for a spot of gallivanting!

 

 

I can't tell you how excited I was when Christina Strutt of Cabbages & Roses declared that she LOVED the book and would be delighted to kick it off into the world at her darling shop in Sydney Street, Chelsea.  The annual party she throws during Chelsea in Bloom, the week of the Chelsea Flower Show, posed the perfect opportunity.  So Cabbages & Roses had some fun with it, and so did I!  Here's a link to their fun blogpost in the lead up to the evening, which will probably make you giggle. 

A peek into the sweet shop on the evening of the party, where their collection of quintessentially romantic clothes lined the walls and garden-fresh seasonal veg and yummy things awaited guests on their way through to the sunny little garden out the back (where I sat at a table signing a pile of books!) - yes....a glorious London evening with beaming sun 'til after 8pm. It was perfect :)  With a combination of Cabbage & Rose and Robertson friends, the book was given a delightful UK start. 

I can't think of a more perfect place to have kicked it off....a longtime fan of Christina's Cabbages & Roses....if you've read the link to their blogpost above, you will have seen that for me, C&R perfectly sums up England's romantic idyll....many a young girls' dream.  And though I may not be quite so young anymore, I remember only too well the notions that enticed me to London all those years ago. I've always been caught between two worlds...which is pretty much summed up in The House and Garden at Glenmore.  

Some of you have been lucky enough over the years to score the odd metre or two of C&R's Hatley pink or blue on natural linen here in the Barn. I used the pink as the perfect foil for the Summer Pudding image on p.238 of the book.  Well....I've just placed an order for a few metres of Hatley black on natural, which is so totally divine and the girls in the shop will be posting it to me hot off the press!  Exciting!!

If you're visiting London, I do hope you will visit C&R.....whether for a full blown glorious outfit or just some wee thing that captures your imagination.....I never escape without something and my cupboards are littered with C&R reminders!  (Think those pretty skirts I made for the girls when they were little, with petticoats of tulle underneath so they could spin around in the garden....or the acres of crisp cotton runners for the tables and aprons we wore for the Australian Garden History Society dinner here years ago....my favourite plaid jacket...or Chirstina's 'Guide to Natural Housekeeping' which lurks on my desk - I do wish it would be reprinted - I know some of you have also picked up a copy here).

And just before I move off the topic of the book which I will.....this is the last of it then onto gallivanting....promise; it really was a thrill to walk into Waterstone's on the Kings Road (on my way from meeting the girls at C&R to the Chelsea Flower Show), to be confronted with this panel of books right inside the door!

There we are....alongside pretty salubrious company!  

Many of you have asked about the cover and why it's different:  it was the publisher's decision not to have a dust jacket in the UK, and just to have the hard cover.  Once again I'm caught betwixt and between.....I love both, and while I'm sorry not to see the house with its spiky agaves in a clearly Australian landscape sitting on the shelves over there, I totally understand their engagement with the romantic image of me carrying a haul of hazy flowers from the Kitchen Garden on a crisp spring morning!  I know some of you are confused, but for those in Australia....take a peek under the dust jacket and this is what you'll find.  For those of you in England....please ask your local bookshop to order it into stock!

OK.......so can we please get on with the gallivanting now?

I imagine some of you may be wondering why I chose the globe artichoke as the symbol for our Spring Garden Fair? Well....15 & 16 October ought to be prime globe artichoke time here, though one can never quite tell. As for purple ones - since having some success about five years ago, I've failed with each successive attempt.  I don't know why they should be more temperamental than the green ones, but so far, they have been.

So when I asked Clemmie to illustrate one, it was a bit of a gamble.  Her stylised representation in gouache has served my purpose well and features on the web page as well as our flyers (now dotted about Sydney and slightly further afield....as time...or lack of more like....has allowed!).

Back in the autumn I planted (yet again) two supposedly purple fruiting artichoke seedlings. And then, just a couple of weeks ago as I was watering one morning, look what I spied....one plump, emerging fruit of exquisite beauty, deep in the heart of it's crinkly leaf surrounds.

Now both plants have sent up a sturdy, handsome central stem, accompanied by smaller side-shoots, and I don't know whether to leap for joy or to despair as I fear they will be 'flowers' before our Spring Garden Fair!  Not that I really mind....just as long as they don't keel over in the appalling winds we're experiencing.  I'll definitely forego eating them this year though....I have a feeling they're best left to go through their entire cycle in the first year and suspect that's how I lost them first time around, so I'll just watch on longingly...patiently, in the hope of eating one next year! 

Aren't they fabulous? I hope you'll come and see their progress at the fair! 

This time the eagle really has landed!  You can pre-order copies to collect at the Spring Garden Fair or for me to post to you, should you feel so inclined.....here!!!!

Good heavens....what a day! Filled with activity, smiles and breathtaking beauty.

As last time, it all kicked off with lovely Jardine Hansen hauling buckets of flowers....(this time the ones that herald the spring season) into the Dairy, on an astonishingly bright last- Saturday-of-winter's morning.

  

Flowers that our participants would plunder later in the day, to make arrangements of their very own.

But it all began (after morning tea and lengthy conversations about flowers!) with a garden ramble to collect a bounty of material for Jardine to play with...from branches of Manchurian Pear and Almond blossom, crab-apple and banksia to racemes of Macadamia flowers, feathery artemisia to cupped abutilons, the first fennel flowers and kitchen garden poppies, for a morning session of tips and teaching before lunch at a flower-laden table. 

But I'm leaving you with this image of exquisite poppies, neither frilled nor pleated, yet something in between....blushed and magical.  Thank you Jardine, from me and all our participants, for a quite wonderful workshop.  What a heavenly way to spend a Saturday! 

ps you can see all the beaming faces holding their arrangements on Jardine's instagram page if you go to @jardinebotanic 

I'm rather sorry to say that I took hardly any photos at our lovely Herbal Garden Workshop.....and it wasn't that there weren't pretty pictures aplenty to take....more that there was an awful lot going on - a frenzy of activity from day's beginning to end!  With morning tea of that naughty flourless Orange Cake and Anthia herself pouring a veritable wish-list of Ovvio teas from her pots; after an introductory session, everyone was off to inspect the garden, exploring with their very own herbalist to explain the uses of plants to be discovered in every nook and cranny.

A prompt lunch of Pea & Mint Soup, Fennel & Lemon Risotto and a mountain of leaves and petals from the garden was followed by a fabulous afternoon session of mixing, stirring and blending concoctions of all kinds. There was a huge amount of information for everyone to absorb before the day ended with a little Cumquat Ice Cream and the very first taste of Rhubarb from the late winter garden...and smiles all round. 

So here is your sneak peak.  It won't be out 'til 1 October.  Open Garden on 15 & 16 October will be staged in celebration of the book's release and of course, I'll have plenty of copies here then!  For those who have already asked, I'll let you know when I can take advance orders, but I just couldn't let this somewhat auspicious moment go by without a little mention....it's not every day such an exciting package arrives in the post! 

Well....the day began simply enough....with the circle we marked out a week ago and continued to prep, prod and water each day, in hope the ground would be soft enough for today's much anticipated Living Willow Workshop with Penny Simons.  We've been hanging out for rain for a couple of months now and of course it would choose this morning to fall on us!  But in fact, it was really only enough to settle the dust, and by the time everyone headed out to begin the task, although cold and overcast, it was dry - perfect willow weather.

Penny gave a terrific presentation explaining the background of Living Willow before heading outside to concentrate on the practical aspects of the task and preparation of all the willow rods and whips she brought in bundles......just foraging for the material is a big job, so it's been a week of preparation for today all 'round.

Some of the finer material for the sides and detail - how I love a bundle of raw material!

Then the work began and with everyone pitching in, the initial structure went up under Penny's watchful eye without a hitch.

No-one seemed to believe me when I suggested it would fine up and we could have lunch in the sun....so I took the hint and set lunch in front of the fire - a hearty, garden-inspired candle-lit lunch for the hard workers!

Then it was back outside to complete the work!  In this particular instance, participants took away a set of new skills as well as new-found knowledge and inspiration, while Glenmore has the result of their work.  What a team they were and I very much hope we will see many Living Willow structures popping up all over as a result of the day.  

And I hope they'll all be back to visit and watch the progress of their work (of course it's up to me now to keep it alive....as well as to look after future growth....I'd better not let them down!) and I expect it will take on a life of its own.  But it's these terrific girls who are responsible for its existence and I send a huge thank you to Penny of course, for making this long-held desire of mine to build a Living Willow structure at Glenmore finally happen, as well as to Julie, Nancy, Rosie, Georgia, Kirsten, Cherylle, Margie, Vanessa and Sophie.  My challenge is to ensure it becomes a froth of foliage for them all to see at Open Garden in October!

The pumpkins are, at last, all off their vines as we approach the final weekend of autumn....hardening off in the sun on the stone wall, but I guess I really ought to bring them inside now for safe keeping.

And as I prepare for tomorrow's Living Willow Workshop here, I'm also making lists for what to take along to my stall at Sydney Living Museums' Autumn Harvest Festival at Rouse Hill House on Sunday.  A batch of beautifully handcrafted trugs for a start, footed enamel colanders, veg brushes, a couple of hats, a bucket of Jerusalem artichokes, a big armful of rosemary.....a crate of scented pelargoniums, hmmm....and no doubt I'll think of a lot more between now and then!  All details at SLM -  I'm so looking forward to it and will hope to see you there! 

 In the meantime, on with the cooking for Saturday's workshop!

When I begin uploading images like this.....sprigs of eucalypt, colanders and lengths of raw silk or wool....you know that India Flint has drifted in on a breeze to deliver an enchanting day with an eager group of participants.....

The board is chalked with hints to the garden-inspired lunch that awaits....

But first there's a flourless apple, raisin, almond and ginger cake for our excitable dyers-to-be.  (I seem to only dig out this recipe for India's days - I'm not sure why, but the colours and texture just seem right, though it's so scrumptious I really ought to make it more often - but perhaps not for the waist line!).

A poem is written....everyone makes a contribution, before settling into a rhythm of stitching and quiet chatter, the odd peal of laughter as new acquaintances are made.  Then there is a gathering of materials in the garden.....

Laying out and wrapping the precious discoveries....

before bundling and settling them into India's cauldrons where she keeps a watchful eye while lunch is lingered over in the loggia.

Everyone unfurls their bundles out on the croquet lawn this time....the scent of eucalypt permeating the air.

The colours delicate this time around....reflecting the time of year after a harsh summer, they're soft, muted and fragile.

And when the fun is done and everyone's work hangs over branches or fences, drying in the breeze, India unpacks her travelling carpet bag to show her wares.....like Mary Poppins' bottomless one of surprises, India's contains the stuff of dyed-dreams.....wraps and dresses, cloaks and all manner of combinations as everyone's eyes pop with the possibility of it all.  

Another group of inspired dyers?  I think so!